Sustainability

Environmental sustainability

Capco is committed to ensuring the Earls Court Project is as sustainable as possible. This is a challenge, but we’re determined to make a real difference and we’re working hard to create a place which sets the European standard for healthier and more engaged, neighbourly, active and environmentally sensitive ways of living.

Our approach goes much further than recycling and keeping carbon emissions and waste to a minimum (although these are obviously a good start!). We want this new urban neighbourhood to encourage and support enjoyable, sustainable lifestyles and become a place where generations to come will be proud to live. We plan to make it a haven in the centre of the city where you can cycle or walk to work down wide, tree-lined avenues and intimate side streets. A place where fruit and vegetables are grown on balconies and rooftops, and then cooked up at the restaurant or café on the corner. Somewhere you can be healthy and active every day and enjoy real quality of life in the heart of the city.

Sustainable design and construction

We believe development can play an important role in addressing a range of environmental challenges, including the threat of climate change. Every aspect of our masterplan will therefore be designed with sustainability in mind.

The British Government has set ambitious targets to reduce the country’s carbon emissions. We intend the Earls Court Project to be designed and managed in ways that enable the people who live there and those that visit to have a much lower ecological footprint than they might elsewhere.

Our buildings will be designed and managed to exemplary environmental standards. They will be adaptable and well built so they can have a range of uses over their long lives. We’d like them to be positioned to catch maximum sunlight for their rooftop gardens, create clean energy with solar panels, make the most of natural light and help keep heating costs down.

Brompton Cemetery and Normand Park are the only large green public spaces in the area so we’re planning a string of public gardens, squares and pocket parks throughout the site. Together with gardens, balconies, green roofs and walls, these will offer a leafy refuge for both people and wildlife, and help keep the area cool and quiet.

Water and waste

We plan to incorporate a range of technologies and design features across the development that will make it easy for everyone living and working there to keep waste to a minimum and recycle as much as possible. For example, we’re looking at how best to collect and use rainwater across the site and to reuse ‘grey water’ from kitchens and bathrooms to water gardens and parks. We’re also investigating systems that make collecting and recycling glass, paper, kitchen scraps and other waste easy and efficient, minimising waste to landfill and reducing the need for rubbish vans on the streets.

Energy and transport

To keep carbon emissions and fuel bills down, we plan to make the Earls Court Project as energy-efficient as possible through a range of design and management features. For example, buildings will be designed to use low levels of energy for heating, cooling and lighting and we’ll explore innovative ways of helping residents to minimise the amount of energy they use.

Of course we’ll still need some energy, and we’re researching the latest community energy infrastructure schemes – including wind and solar energy – so that the Earls Court Project Area isn’t entirely dependent on the national grid for its power.

As 29% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from personal transport, the development will encourage people to walk and will champion London’s cycling revolution with cycle lanes and special secure bike parking. Combined with the development’s excellent public transport links, this should mean that cars are needed for fewer journeys. We plan to encourage clean cars with electrical charging points. Car clubs with low emission vehicles will provide the convenience of car travel without the expense of owning a vehicle.

Tell us what you think

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